Support for Japan govt hovers below 20 pct - poll

TOKYO

TOKYO Jan 11 Support for Japanese Prime
Minister Taro Aso's cabinet is hovering below 20 percent, a
nationwide poll showed on Sunday, as the premier struggles to
get measures to help the economy past a divided parliament
before calling elections his party looks set to lose.

Kyodo News said the approval rating for the cabinet had
fallen to 19.2 percent in a telephone survey it conducted this
weekend, down 6.3 percentage points from December, while the
disapproval rating came in at 70.2 percent, up 8.9 points from
last month.

Saddled with a deepening recession and plagued by an
emboldened opposition that already controls the upper house of
parliament, Aso appears to be leading the long-ruling Liberal
Democrat Party to defeat in lower house elections due this
year. [ID:nT364945]

Kyodo reported that 46.4 percent of respondents said they
would prefer Ichiro Ozawa, head of the main opposition
Democratic Party of Japan, as prime minister, more than double
the 22.1 percent who backed Aso for the job.

In addition, 51.4 percent said they would prefer a
government led by the DPJ, compared with only 30.5 percent who
wanted Aso's LDP.

Aso has effectively ruled out calling an election until
parliament passes a supplementary budget for the year to the
end of March and the full budget for fiscal 2009/10.

The government hopes to get lower house approval as early
as Tuesday for the extra budget, which includes funding for 2
trillion yen ($22 billion) in payouts to individuals that the
opposition says is pork-barrel spending aimed at the election.

Kyodo reported that 70.5 percent of respondents opposed the
payout plan, up 12.4 points, while only 23.7 percent supported
it, down 7.7 points.

Many respondents said the money should instead be used for
pensions, medical services and other social security spending,
Kyodo added.
($1=90.35 Yen)
(Reporting by Hugh Lawson, Editing by Dean Yates)